• Published 26th Nov 2017
  • 801 Views, 24 Comments

Finding Inspiration - bahatumay



Tales of a strange pony with snakes for a mane and a glare that can turn ponies to stone turn out to be too close to nonfiction for one writer's liking.

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Chapter 5

“For this… is Nightmare Night!” Wind Shear let out his best maniacal laugh and threw his cloak wide, letting it snap. He stepped aside as the curtain opened to reveal Nightmare Moon, the fearsome alicorn of eternal night herself!

The crowd gave their best frightened howls, and, with the traditional prologue done, foals of all ages darted forward to give their offerings of candy to the dreaded Nightmare Moon.

Of course, since she was being played by the very friendly, very shy, and not at all dreaded Green Hooves, it was slightly less scary than some other Nightmare Nights Wind Shear had attended. Still, Greenie gave her very best scowl, stomped heavily as she moved around the stage, and took her time on the inspection, even nudging some of the candies over with a hoof for a closer look before giving a nod of satisfaction.

“We live another year!” a mummy who sounded oddly like Happy Trails called, and she started the music. The gathered ponies filed onto the floor, dancing and twirling in their costumes. Wind Shear bent down and helped Green Hooves gather the candy, as it was to be given out again later.

“You did good,” he told her. She smiled and nodded in response, but her cheeks tinged pink at the compliment.

Once that was done, he stepped off the stage and walked over to one of the booths, the ones on the edge that couldn't be moved, further in the shadows. He quickly wiped his brow. That had been really fun.

Happy Trails grinned as she sidled by. Or, she might have. It was hard to tell under all those bandages on her face. “You did great up there! That was the best version of the story I've heard.”

“You flatter me,” Wind Shear responded, though he was smiling. “It was a lot of fun, glad I could do it.”

She grinned. “And I think a performance like that deserves a few desserts!” She slid a tray of cupcakes onto the table, winked, and walked away. Wind Shear grinned and peeled the paper off of one. It was nice to be part of the party while being apart of the party.

A mare dressed as a vampony, wearing a long black cloak with a hood that covered her face that had been painted white, stepped nearby. “Hey.”

Internally wincing at being recognized (and being sneaked up on), he put on his best public relations smile. “He-” He did a double-take. He thought he recognized that mare under the white makeup. “Morning Glory?” he asked.

“Shout louder, idiot,” Morning Glory hissed, sliding in on the opposite side of the table. “There might have been a pony in Appleoosa who didn’t hear you.”

“Sorry,” Wind Shear said. “Where?”

“Appleoosa,” Morning Glory repeated. “Little farming town, near Dodge Junction. Mostly apples?”

Wind Shear shook his head. “I’ve never heard of either of those places,” he admitted. “My signing tours never took me anywhere near there, I guess.”

“You didn’t miss much,” Morning Glory said darkly. She pointed down at the cupcakes. “These look good, do you mind?”

Wind Shear shook his head and nudged the plate a bit closer to her.

She picked the closest cupcake up, examined it critically, and then, after a furtive glance around to make sure nopony was watching, placed it in her mouth and swallowed it whole. She hadn't even taken the paper off.

“Do you do that with everything you eat?” Wind Shear asked curiously.

She opened her mouth to show him the inside. Tiny sharp teeth hugged her gums, a far cry from the flat herbivore teeth she should have had, glittered in the flashing lights. “Lost all my teeth,” she explained. “The ones that grew back were the snake ones, the hooked kind that hold things in place.” She grinned, showing off her fangs. “So don’t put anything in my mouth that you want back.”

Wind Shear slid the plate of cupcakes closer to her. “Why would I want anything back?” He shook his head. What a weird thing to say. He changed the subject. “Honestly, I’m surprised you came out here. In public, I mean.”

“Tonight is the one night I can go out and blend in. Nopony gives me a second look. Fangs are normal. Even snakes are normal. There's at least two mares dressed up as me here. So excuse me if I think it's nice to not have to worry about an angry mob coming after me.”

“Oh. Makes sense.” Wind Shear said thoughtfully. “Do you often have to worry about angry mobs?”

“Depends on how quickly I get discovered,” she said. She glared. “Don’t be that pony that rats me out, ok? Life would get pretty… hard for you.”

Wind Shear held up his hooves. “I won’t. Promise. Hay, you could show up at my house every day and I still wouldn’t tell anypony.”

One side of her mouth curled up. “I’ll hold you to that.” She picked up the last cupcake, shoved it in her mouth, swallowed quickly, and slid out of the booth. She paused, then looked over her shoulder. “You were ok up there, by the way.”

Wind Shear watched her go. Then he shook his head and looked back at the party. He recognized the small ancient mare approaching as the mayor, and he put on his best public relations smile again.

But it was really hard to take her seriously with the fake snakes sticking out of her mane at awkward angles. Especially since he'd just talked with the real thing.